Of course he did. Solidarity.

I'd rather see a Donaghy quote.

Really thought Memphis had it when it went to overtime.

quote:

---

As a Spurs fan, I never got really nervous even though it went to OT. Maybe that GS series has hardened me or maybe Memphis doesn't just have the firepower to ever pull away, but it feels like the Spurs will always be in it.

---

I was sure as hell nervous because all the momentum was on Memphis side. However, your comment on the Grizz lacking the fire power to pull away is something I've been saying. Even if Memphis plays great, they're not built to blow teams out, so we'll always have a shot to win it at the end.

Memphis got a lot of help in that second half but they played well. Have to give them some credit.

Anyway, A win is a win.

2 more until the finals.

quote:

---

aggie_2001_2005
posted 10:50p, 05/21/13



There's that weak ass mentality from the spurs I knew would show up. They're f-ing done

---

what ****ing planet are you from?

The Spurs have practically played every other day since the start of the GS series (8 games in 16 days) That's pretty rough for this team.

They finally ran out of gas a little tonight and this three day break couldn't be coming at a better time for SA. The fact that they were able to take care of these first two games is still very impressive even if it wasn't so pretty tonight. They definitely did what they had to do so far. Now just need to get 1 in Memphis.

[This message has been edited by Sher Thing (edited 5/22/2013 1:57a).]

Overtime in the WCF and what's leading Sportscenter? Sergio Garcia channeling Fuzzy Zoeller. Nice, ESPN.

I'm not a fan of how NBA does their playoff scheduling, but the long break probably is more to the Spurs's favor. It'll give MEM time to draw up a different gameplan, but based on Timmy's and Parker's comments after the game, they need the rest

At the game last night. Great atmosphere. Great win. Love this team.

I'm surprised at how few Grizz fans were there last night. Maybe I'm just used to the Laker "fans" that come in droves to the AT&T.

Anyway, this 3 day break is great for our guys. Both teams looked pretty gassed last night. Especially Tony. It seems that his last 5 shots or so were all coming up short.

Let's take one in Memphis!

The Spurs had an awful lot go against them and still pulled this game out. Personally I think the 4th and 5th Fouls on Duncan threw off the gameplan and allowed Memphis to crawl back in. Parker was clearly gassed as well from the 4th Quarter on, he stopped making dribble drive passes and settled for jumpshots that weren't falling.

This was a game Memphis really needed imo. The 3 days of rest for SA are huge right now and they are going to look to come out and snag Game 3 and put this series out of reach. Memphis can still get back in it for sure but it's a tough road because they can't run away with a game. It's going to be awfully tough to win 4 of 5 with a grind it out style against the Spurs.

I also don't see the Spurs repeating that 4th Quarter again. It seemed more about Duncan being effectively out of the game and the rest of the starters being gassed. They really need some rest. The Spurs just seem more disciplined than Memphis and have better outside shooting and passing. Memphis just doesn't have enough raw talent to overcome that.

The officiating was also terrible on both sides, though it was surprising to see them give that flagrant in that situation after the replay. Manu clearly wasn't trying to hurt him and that call with that little time left nearly gave the game to Memphis. It's a testament to the Spurs (mainly Duncan who not only had the 3 buckets but also the HUGE block in OT while playing with 5 fouls) that they got their bearings and pulled it out.

One other thing to consider is that Bayless is the guy who nearly won the game for Memphis. Defending him wasn't a big part of the Spurs' gameplan, whereas the Spurs had Allen and Prince cold turkey. Next game the Spurs will place more emphasis on moving Bayless and to a lesser extent Pondexter off their spots.

[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 5/22/2013 9:49a).]

Those officials were amazingly inconsistent. It makes me almost hate the NBA. They would go from calling no fouls despite obvious holds and muggings to calling ghost calls and numerous fouls per possession. I can't even imagine the calls miami will get in the finals against the poor souls that come out of the west.

Conley getting his 3rd foul on a ghost call led to a big Spurs run, and then the second half heavily favored the Griz. Getting Duncan in foul trouble, getting the Griz in the bonus and the BS flagrant were obviously game changers against the Spurs. What stinks for the Spurs is knowing that Stern would likely want a long series since the Heat are just now starting. I see more of the second half officiating in the Spurs future.

If the Spurs hit their outside shots then they are good enough to win despite the calls, but as hard as the griz play it makes those long jumpers late in the game pretty tough to convert.

Game 3 is huge for the Spurs. They should have fresh legs which hopefully can lead to shots falling from long range like in game 1. The Spurs have been getting wide open looks all series so I expect that to continue. They just need to knock them down in game 3. Memphis will probably take game 4 and then the Spurs will probably close it out in San Antonio in Game 5.

quote:

---

One other thing to consider is that Bayless is the guy who nearly won the game for Memphis. Defending him wasn't a big part of the Spurs' gameplan, whereas the Spurs had Allen and Prince cold turkey. Next game the Spurs will place more emphasis on moving Bayless and to a lesser extent Pondexter off their spots.

[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 5/22/2013 9:49a).]

---

Pondexter had a decent game 2 he was no where to be found in game 1 and you let Bayless take those 17--19ft jump shots . He will make some but at the end of the game you saw him get careless with the 3.

I am fine with the spurs even though the majority of Bayless shots 7-18 . Remember Duncan say out most of the 2nd half bout 9 min .

Pondexter nowhere to be found in game one? Did you watch game one? He had 17 points off the bench and almost all his points came from 3's (15 to be exact).

[This message has been edited by Xgigemaggies12x (edited 5/22/2013 10:06a).]

Pondexter was the only guy who could score in game 1 and had a couple big scores in game 2. Bayless was inefficient in game 2, but you still don't want it to be quite so easy for him to step into his shot.

The Spurs generally take more and more away from the opposing team as the series goes on; you really saw that in the Clippers series. They have the Grizzlies starters mostly solved; the next step is to clean up some of the easy opportunities for backups. I think they want the ball in Bayless' hands, but they don't want him getting open 17 footers in rhythm. Same with Pondexter, they want him to have the ball instead of Randolph or Conley, but they don't want him catching the ball wide open in the corner.


When those two are getting open looks, it stretches the defense, which makes it tougher to keep Randolph on lockdown.

[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 5/22/2013 10:10a).]

I'll never understand why the league lets the officials run wild. No other sport is so affected by how the officials call a game nor does it have as many errors. Yet the officials blatantly have "make up calls" and don't call fouls on superstars while calling them on rookies just "because".

Where I lost all respect though was in the wake of the fixing fiasco with the guy that admitted he was fixing games the officials refused to allow themselves to have to stop gambling on their own. It's just fine for an official to go to Vegas and bet big all he wants so long as it isn't a game they are officiating. That's just crazy. You would think if you made the kind of bank those guys do with the benes they have they could give up going to Vegas while they are an active official. They don't care about credibility at all. Worst of all, the NBA could get all the officials they want from the college ranks and yet they act as though the NBA officials are on some higher plane above everyone. It's ridiculous.

Sometimes the NBA feels like WWE which is really sad.

I'd say soccer refs have more power as 2 cards and you're out of the game. In the NBA you have to get 6 fouls. A soccer ref can really change a game by ejecting guys with 2 yellow cards.

I do agree that it was incredibly inconsistent officiating and I know the Grizz guys were getting onto the refs in the first half and it was Spurs time in the 2nd half.

I also agree about the WWE anaology and thought about that this morning in the shower. It's clear Stern didn't like the low ratings of game 1 and obviously another blowout (possible based on the 1st half) would be detrimental so I think maybe a little something extra was going on (tin foil).

Ultimately the NBA is about ratings and instead of openly praising teams like Memphis and San Antonio they instead do nothing to help the popularity of good basketball. If you aren't in LA or NY (Boston, Miami now) then the ratings will dip.

Basketball by far is the most difficult sport to officiate though.

I thought it was pretty noticeable that right when the Spurs were about to go up 20 and put it out of reach, the Grizzlies started getting a ton of calls. Some of that was because the Grizzlies got more aggressive, but that doesn't explain all of it.

The grizzlies are VERY aggressive and force many fouls on offense. I remember one game against LAC in the first round where they had 40 something free throws.

That being said, I think it was poorly officiated on both sides. Did Memphis get a few questionable calls near the end? Yes, but the same thing happened for the spurs the first two quarters that pushed the lead out to where it was.

[This message has been edited by Xgigemaggies12x (edited 5/22/2013 11:29a).]

pretty sure pondexter is the only grizzly who shoots over 40% from three. Stop leaving him open.

quote:

---

Jared Greenberg @NBATVJared

Tony Parker to undergo an MRI tomorrow on calf. Says three days off couldn't have come at a better time @NBA. @NBATV@NBAonTNT

---

quote:

---

Jeff McDonald @JMcDonald_SAEN
Tony Parker going for another MRI on his left calf tomorrow. No new injury. Just tracking the progress of his recovery.

---

Eh, Memphis was hacking the crap out of Splitter all game, including in the Spurs big run... people are forgetting that the game was pretty evenly played except for about 8 minutes end of the 2nd/beginning of the 3rd (ad Spurs) and a couple 4 minute runs in the 3rd and 4th (ad Memphis). There were bad calls, but they happened both ways all game aside from a little help getting Memphis back in the game.

One of Conley's was weak, Duncan's 3rd should have been an offensive foul on Conley if anything (I'd have preferred a play-on), the flagrant, when Gasol was called for a push on Parker, and two no-calls when Gasol pushed then hacked Splitter on different plays. I think Randolph got the benefit of a couple pretty cheap calls on contact he initiated, but you live with that because he was the aggressor.

quote:

---

I thought it was pretty noticeable that right when the Spurs were about to go up 20 and put it out of reach, the Grizzlies started getting a ton of calls. Some of that was because the Grizzlies got more aggressive, but that doesn't explain all of it.

---

You can say that but the spurs were going inside being pushed for layups and rebounds. So no they were not the only one aggressive they just got all the calls and 16 fts in the third is the reason for the comeback. Every shot the spurs made there was a quick whistle on the other end to keep the game from getting away..

We saw the same ish last year against okc the nba wants a long series . Y wait so long to start the nba series witht the heat even thou the west has played 2 games?

If you watch the post plays you'll see Randolph holding Bonner's shoulder or arm on most of them.

quote:

---

Basketball by far is the most difficult sport to officiate though.

---

Yep, Basketball is like trying to determine if it's a pass interference every play.

The worst no-call of the game IMO was when gasol raked splitter across both arms in the 1st or 2nd quarter. He fouled Timmy right after so it evened out I guess, but wow what a horrible missed call.

Duncan gets the least respect from the officials out of any superstar ever.

On 3+ days of rest.
Grizz 2-3
Spurs 5-1

On Saturday games

Grizz: 7-6
Spurs: 12-0

[This message has been edited by Iowaggie (edited 5/22/2013 1:24p).]